Search This Blog

Movie Review: Black or White

Black or White is basically Kevin Costner vs. Octavia Spencer - and ever since The Help, I'd go see a movie where Spencer reads the phone book, to be honest (I love her acting). This film touches upon many issues that are very relevant today, and it was interesting to see how it played out.

Elliot Anderson (Costner) has just lost his wife, and now is the only person raising his 7-year-old granddaughter, Eloise (Jillian Estell). Her father, Reggie (Andre Holland), is a drug addict who hasn't been in the picture for a while now, and Elliot's 17-year-old daughter died in childbirth. Eloise DOES have a grandmother, however (Spencer), and many cousins, all of whom live in a part of L.A. very different from Elliot's. "Grandma We-We," as her other grandmother, Rowena, calls herself, would like to raise Eloise as her own - she's already doing that for a few of her nieces and nephews; but Elliot won't have it. Soon, they both find themselves embroiled in a family court case, led by Rowena's lawyer brother, Jeremiah (Anthony Mackie), and although Rowena and Elliot both want what's best for Eloise, they both have very strong opinions, as well.

All the scenes in this film with Costner and Spencer bickering were great - they have good chemistry together - and all of the characters in this movie were very believable, as well. Eloise enjoys visiting with her cousins and other family on Rowena's side, but she barely knows her father (Rowena's son), and when he unexpectedly shows up wanting to be involved in the court case, she doesn't know who to trust. Costner is great as the "cranky old man" in this movie, and a math tutor he hires for Eloise, Duvan (Mpho Koaho), actually ends up stealing the show, with his quirky manners and attributes. Newcomer Jillian Estell, as Eloise, also ends up stealing the show, as she's adorable and also very smart.

Yes, see this movie. It has bursts of unexpected humor throughout, while at the same time dealing with some serious issues, and the cast all did very well. Costner has been popping up in a number of movies last year and this - Draft Day, 3 Days to Kill,and Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit - but this is my favorite role of his between all of those movies. The film should do well at the box office, too, solely based on its A-list cast (Costner, Spencer, Mackie, and more), and it's one I definitely recommend seeing; it's rated PG-13 but is a great family movie too, in my opinion, and could start some interesting conversations about race in today's modern world.

Black or White is in theaters today, January 30th, and is rated PG-13 with a runtime of 121 minutes. 4 stars out of 5.

So we've all been there ... that time when you're on an important phone call, and then the call drops. Or even when you need to use the internet on your smartphone, only to realize that you're at your data limit for the month.

I drive all over the metro Detroit area for movie screenings; because of this, most of the time I know where I'm going, but sometimes, I'm in an unfamiliar area or at an unfamiliar theater and I need GPS to know how to get there and back.

A few months ago, I was headed to the AMC Forum (Sterling Heights area) and I wanted to know the best way to get home from there. My phone kept stalling ... and stalling ... and then the Maps app crashed! Gah! I was extremely frustrated. I was finally able to re-start the phone and get safely home, but it TOOK. SO. LONG. Had the Maps app worked the fir…

*Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own. As long-time readers of this blog surely know, I travel quite a lot. A few years ago, I only took about 2-3 trips per year, not including trips in the state of Michigan (Grand Haven weekends, etc.), but this past year, I was fortunate in that I was able to travel very frequently.

I recently heard about a new travel site, DirectHotels.com, which is similar to Kayak.com, in that it searches all of the other travel sites (Orbitz, Expedia, etc.) to find the best deals for you. I gave it a bit of a test run to see if that is indeed true.

About the site:
DirectHotels.com is a new hotel comparison tool that challenges the big brands. Travelers can easily compare all the travel sites in one place to find the cheapest hotel. DirectHotels.com compares over 200 bookings sites, so users can be sure about its accuracy. Using DirectHotels.com means that you will never overpay.

I've written these past two years about Bookstock, a huge used book & media sale that takes place at Laurel Park Place, in Livonia, and it's returning again this year, from Sunday, 4/22 through Sunday, 4/29.Read more about the event over at my book blog! I was finally able to check it out last year, and they had a large mix of books and media (including DVDs, Blu-rays, and records).To learn more about Bookstock, click hereto visit my book blog, or visit their official site here.